I was watching a spinoff from America’s Test Kitchen called “Julia at Home,” featuring ATK co-host, Julia Collin Davison. Her show focuses on seasonal recipes that she prepares for her family. I recently caught an episode where she made an cheesy egg roulade, a sheet pan baked egg dish. I was so intrigued by this recipe that I had to try it.
 
For the recipe you’ll need one dozen eggs, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon pepper and one clove of garlic (Julia used a rasp grater for this task) finely grated. To ensure that the eggs will roll neatly after baking, in a separate bowl half-and-half and all-purpose flour are whisked together. While Julia filled her roulade with chopped spinach, I had some broccoli on hand that I roasted and used for my filling. For the cheese component she used Gruyère, I had smoked mozzarella on hand that I used for my filling. Before pouring the mixture into the sheet pan, the pan is sprayed with cooking spray then lined with parchment paper. Another shot of cooking spray goes on the parchment that will help with rolling the cooked eggs into a log. The eggs are poured into the pan followed by whatever green you choose. The pan is placed in the oven for nine minutes. Once removed, the shredded cheese is spread over the eggs. Using the parchment paper, roll the eggs into a tight log, as best as possible. Place the roll on a long platter, seam side down.  ​

​Have you ever purchased ingredients for a recipe then find you have a small amount leftover? Such was the case with buttermilk and a small container of whole milk ricotta I purchased. My daughter, who loves Lemon Ricotta Pancakes, turned down my offer to make some for her. Undeterred, I decided to treat myself to a special breakfast. Although I previously made a Williams-Sonoma recipe, I found one by Genevieve Ko on The New York Times/NYT Cooking website that didn’t require whipping egg whites. For Ms. Ko’s recipe you’ll need all-purpose flour, baking powder, fine salt, granulated sugar, a lemon, vanilla extract, eggs, whole milk ricotta, buttermilk and unsalted butter.
 
To make the pancakes, the flour, baking powder and salt are whisked together in a small bowl. In a large bowl, the sugar and the zest of one lemon are added. To infuse the lemon flavor into the pancakes, you’ll use your fingers to rub the zest into the sugar. Next, the vanilla is whisked in, followed by the eggs that you’ll whisk until foamy on top. To that you’ll add the ricotta, butter and melted butter and whisk until blended. Finally, the dry ingredients are incorporated and mixed until the flour is fully moistened. Using a 1/4-cup, scoop batter and place on a well-butter griddle. Cook until both sides are golden brown. 

I like to keep a tin of cookies on my counter for my husband and I to nibble on. Instead of baking off an entire batch, I’ll bake nine cookies at a time to slow down our sweet snacking. In one of our recent Dreyer Farms CSA boxes, we received a half gallon of Melick’s Town Farm Apple Cider just as I received a catalogue from King Arthur Flour containing a recipe for Apple Cider Snickerdoodle Cookies. I had everything on hand except boiled cider. On their website they gave a recipe on how to make it. A gallon of cider takes six hours to boil down to approximately two cups. As the recipe called for just two tablespoons of boiled cider, I placed a half gallon of cider in a heavy bottom saucepan, brought it to a boil then simmered for three hours. At this point the liquid had a syrup like consistency. 

Poof, summer is just about over. This week, I popped over to Matts Farm Market in Belmar and picked up a few ears of sweet white corn to prepare Sautéed Chicken Breasts with Corn and Shallots, from Pierre Franey’s “60-Minute Gourmet” column in The New York Times from August 1985. You’ll also need skinless and boneless chicken breasts, salt, freshly ground black pepper, butter, finely chopped shallots, dry white wine, Dijon mustard, heavy cream and either fresh chervil or parsley.
 
The recipe begins by seasoning both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper. The kernels of corn are removed from the cob and set aside.

Back in 2023 I took on the challenge to prepare a Turkey Porchetta from the cooking show
“America’s Test Kitchen.” Patience was the key to executing this recipe, but it turned out fabulous. I recently came across a recipe by Kay Chun, of The New York Times, for Porchetta-Spiced Roasted Potatoes. These potatoes were scrumptious. They had all the seasonings of a porchetta, minced garlic, fennel, dried thyme, fresh rosemary, fresh sage, freshly ground black pepper, red-pepper flakes with the baby potatoes (such as creamer, baby white or new potatoes) tossed with extra-virgin olive oil.
 
The pieces conveyed a taste similar to that of an actual porchetta roast, but without the hassle. The recipe takes 40 minutes from start to finish and crisped up very nicely in my oven.
 
I was looking for something different to make with ground beef when I stumbled upon Kevin Pang’s recipe for Loose Meat Sandwich. The sandwich is popular in Iowa and will remind you of Sloppy Joe. ​

Where did spring go, it was here for just a short time. Nevertheless, Memorial Day weekend is early this year. I have my granddaughters coming to stay for a night so Nana better get the red velvet or lemon ricotta pancake batter going.
 
In the meantime, spring sport season continues. I recently made a recipe by Claire Robinson, Asian Beef Roll-Ups from her book “5 Ingredient Fix.” This delicious recipe was a snap to make perfect for weeknight meals when there’s an after-school practice or Mommy “just had a day.” For the recipe you’ll need the juice of two limes, 2 tablespoons light brown sugar, 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 to 2 tablespoons chili sauce, or to taste (sriracha is recommended, which I used) and one pound of flank steak.

​Mother’s Day is now in the rear-view mirror, onto another week of sports, spring cleaning and walking in the sunshine.
 
I hosted a brunch for my daughter-in-law on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of the table before everyone dug in. I prepared Creamy Baked Eggs with Leeks and Spinach, Home Fries with Onions and Chives, bacon and Whole-Wheat Bran English Muffins. As we were a small group of four adults, I picked up a fruit bowl from Delicious Orchards in Colts Neck and four pastries from Hey Peach Bakery in Bradley Beach. I selected Pain Suisse, chocolate croissant, all-butter croissant and a cheese Danish. Brunch was delicious if I don’t say so myself. The eggs were perfectly cooked and my husband toasted several English muffins on our gas grill so they were ready at the same time. A fruit salad is always lovely to serve as something light  and sweet. My husband and I shared the Pain Suisse, which was wonderful. There was a light custard filling with a bit of chocolate; all the proportions were perfectly balanced offering a slight sweet flavor. 

​I can’t believe that April is just about over and the start of the summer season at the Jersey shore is in the not-too-distant future. My daughter and her family have had a busy spring, what about yours? Between softball practice and games, soccer and birthday parties how do young families deal with their kid’s busy schedule. My daughter tries to cook ahead for the week, but if you can’t I found some easy to do weeknight meals. I’m also sharing a recipe I found in Cook’s Illustrated Magazine that I made for Easter dessert.
 
There’s nothing like a one pot meal such as Lidey Heuck’s Chicken Potpie with Cornbread biscuits. Eric Joon’s Pepper Steak is a two-pot supper, one for the stir fry and another if you want to serve it with rice. Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin “Filets” from Southern Living Magazine was a delicious meal that took about 35 minutes to prepare. 

I’ve discovered my love for all things cacio e pepe, from pizza to pasta and recently with gnocchi. During a mindless search on the internet for recipes, I came upon “Food & Wine’s” webpage for Cacio e Pepe Gnocchi. It’s a thirty-minute meal and you use shelf stable gnocchi. Though the recipe serves four, I made half the recipe for my husband and I.
 
For the recipe you’ll need olive oil, refrigerated gnocchi (I used Wegmans shelf stable gnocchi), black pepper, heavy cream, Parmesan cheese, pecorino Romano Cheese and fresh flat leafed parsley for garnish. Using an oven-safe skillet, the gnocchi is sautéed in olive oil until a golden brown. The gnocchi is removed and set aside.  In a clean dry skillet, olive oil is added to the pan along with black pepper. The pepper is toasted which will intensify the flavor making it more fragrant and complex. Next, the cream is added and brought to a simmer.  Off heat the cheeses are added and stirred with the cream until melted and silky. Add the gnocchi and stirred until covered with the sauce. Transfer to a preheated oven and broil until the top of the gnocchi is browned in spots and the sauce is thickened. 

​Lately, my days have been so busy, that I am only able to catch up on my blogging once a week. I prefer my posts to be brief (about a 3–5-minute read), give a short overview of the recipe and its process and finally my review.  For now, it’s time to catch up on last week’s culinary adventures.
 
I first made fresh pasta last May using a recipe by Lidia Bastianich. Her recipe used flour, eggs, extra virgin olive oil and ice water. The dough was made in a food processor which made prep easy. The pasta was easy to handle and worked beautifully in my manual pasta machine. This time, I wanted to try Marcella Hazan’s recipe from her book, “Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.” Ms. Hazan’s recipe is simply flour and eggs and you can use either Italian 00 “doppio zero,” which is a soft white flour or American unbleached all-purpose flour. If you’re tempted to use semolina, Ms. Hazan says it’s only suitable for industrially produced pasta as it is difficult to work with. She also dislikes machines that make extruded pasta and, in her opinion, makes an awful product with a machine that is a pain to clean.